A little loose is normal, just not sloppy enough that you need to hold it up or causes some kind of drift or lack of full movement when all the way over. They all wiggle just a little even new. It was a somewhat flawed design with the plastic internals inside given the abuse Mario Party putting so many to death.

Ten years ago I replaced my original sticks with the Chinese replacements and when they wore out I bought one of these and ended up liking it more than the Chinese replacements. So when I get back in the n64 mood I will probably buy three more.